Thuja Brabantis the fastest growing variety of the Western Thuja with a columnar shape, recommended for formed hedges. It perfectly tolerates low temperatures, but often suffers from a lack of moisture. What to do to keepThuja Brabant hedgein good condition for years? See how to properly performplanting Brabant tui , what it looks likecare for Brabant tuiin different years of cultivation, and see how important it is to fertilize and pruning Brabant thuja , ensuring proper growth and compact habit of this plant. Here are the most importantsecrets of growing Brabant tui !
Tuja Brabant - Thuja occidentalis Brabant
What does thuja Brabant look like?
Thuja Brabant , whose full name is Thuja occidentalis 'Brabant' is a variety bred in the Netherlands, in the Brabant region. It owes its varietal name to this origin - Brabant.
This thuja is characterized by a columnar habit , forms a narrow crown with short branches, and when cut, it thickens very nicely.
The Brabant thuja branches are strongly flattenedand densely covered with clinging, scaly, light green needles. Young specimens grow very quickly, with annual growth of 30 cm. The growth rate of the older units slows down significantly. Within 10 years, the plant reaches a height of about 3 m, and ultimately it can grow up to 5 m.
Compact, columnar habit, fast growth and attractive color of scales makeBrabant thuja one of the most popular hedge plants , widely available in nurseries and garden stores.Thanks to the good cutting tolerance, it is perfect for creating even very narrow coniferous hedges.
Thuja Brabant and Thuja Emerald. Which one to choose?
A lot of people wonderwhether the thuja Brabantwill be better for the garden, or the equally popular but usually slightly more expensive thuja Emerald. It all depends on the effect we want to achieve.Thuja Brabant has a columnar habit and requires pruningfor its twigs to thicken nicely. Thuja Emerald has a conical shape and it is not necessary to cut it.Thuja Brabant may lose its nice green color for the winter period , Thuja Emerald and this is not a threat. Although both varieties grow fairly quickly,Thuja Brabant grows slightly faster than Thuja Emerald
On the left a thuja hedge 'Brabant' and on the right thuja 'Emerald'
So if you want plants with a regular habit, beautiful all year round and not requiring pruning, choose the Emerald thuja.It is perfect to be planted as a solitaire in an exposed place in the garden. Suitable for hedges that do not require cutting, butthey will not be as dense and compact as Brabant thuja hedges
Thuja Brabant will workprimarily as a fast growing hedge plant. Such a hedge will require trimming twice a year, but thanks to this we will get a compact, regular hedge wall that will hide our garden from the eyes of passers-by.
Thuja Brabant - planting
If we want a thuja hedge 'Brabant' to retain its decorative qualities for a long time and constitute a compact partition, separating our property from neighbors or the street, we must properly prepare the site before planting the plants. First of all, it should be known that the thuja requires sunny positions (or slightly shaded) and moist, fertile soil. In our climate, it is fully frost-proof, but it often dries up due to drought (creates a shallow root system).
A common mistake isplanting thuja Brabantnear roads and traffic routes with heavy traffic. Although this variety of thuja tolerates air pollution well, apart from excessive soil drying, it can also be damaged by excessive soil salinity. So if a thuja hedge is to separate our property from a busy street, you need to think carefully about choosing a different type of thuja.
If the soil in our garden is light, very permeable and dries easily, you cannot count that thuja Brabantwill grow very well on it. Then the soil should be fertilized by digging it with compost, well-spread manure or a purchased ready substrate for conifers. It is also worth adding a hydrogel to the soil, which helps to maintain moisture in the soil. After planting, the ground under the plants should be covered with a layer of ground bark. Such a litter also prevents water evaporation.
Thuja planting date
Thuja Brabantare usually sold in containers and can be planted throughout the growing season.However, plants planted in fall or early spring take best. In these terms, you can plant thujas dug from the ground as well as with roots in the bale.
Tuje BrabantAfter taking it out of the container or the bale, plant it so that the surface of the root ball is level with the surface of the soil or about 1 cm deeper than it grew in the nursery. The holes should be dug a little more spacious so that the thuja roots can fit freely in them. If we have doubts whether the soil is fertile enough, it is worth putting a dose of compost or decomposed manure at the bottom of the hole. After placing the plants and filling the hole, the thuja needs to be watered abundantly. Then we can spread a layer of the above-mentioned mulch.
How thickly should I plant the Brabant thujas?
Brabants intended for a hedge are planted at intervals of 50? 70 cm. This will provide the plants with sufficient space to grow, while allowing the formation of a compact, dense row.
Thuja Brabant - care
Caring for Thuja Brabant is not complicated , but beauty treatments should be performed regularly. The basic care treatments in the cultivation of Brabant tui include:
- watering thuja Brabant(important especially right after planting, in summer during droughts and in autumn, before the onset of winter, before the earth freezes)
- fertilization of thuja Brabant(we use mineral fertilizers for conifers and organic fertilizers, e.g. compost, the most important is fertilization in spring)
- Brabant trimming(required to keep the plant nice, dense, we do it twice a year, once in spring, once in summer)
- removing weeds and mulching the ground under thujas, for which shredded pine bark is best suited
- spraying against diseases and pests(only necessary if we see signs of pathogens)
This is of course only a very brief overview of the care of popular Brabants. Below, we discuss in more detail the individual treatments that should be performed in the cultivation of Brabant tui.
Thuja Brabant - fertilization
If the soil is properly fertilized before planting the plants,it is not necessary to fertilize Thuja 'Brabant' in the first year of cultivationOveruse of mineral fertilizers is disadvantageous because Thuja 'Brabant', o as I mentioned above, it does not tolerate excessive soil salinity. From the second year, however, it is necessary to regularly replenish the nutrients consumed by the plant, using both fertilizers of natural origin (e.g. compost) and mineral fertilizers.Among mineral fertilizers we can find a number of ready-made fertilizer mixtures for conifers. These are the most common fertilizers to be sprinkled on the soil surface under the plant. Fertilization begins in spring and continues until July. Later, we stop fertilizing, because too late nitrogen application will make it difficult to prepare the plants for winter and expose them to freezing.In August and September, however, nitrogen-poor autumn fertilizers can be applied.
Thuja Brabant - watering
Watering is a very important procedure in the cultivation of Brabant thuja , because this variety is sensitive to moisture deficiencies. Therefore, let's keep the soil moist (but not wet) and water it generously, especially in periods of drought. You should also remember to water the plants in late autumn, before the first frosts arrive. It may seem surprising, but in winter the thujas are damaged by frosty, drying winds and the inability to replenish the moisture from the frozen soil, as a result of which in the spring there is a massive browning of the needles and the drying of plants. If we forgot to water the Brabant thuja in the fall, it is worth doing it in the ground during the thaw periods. Especially if the winter is dry and snowless.
Thuja Brabant - pruning
Western Thuja 'Brabant' is a variety recommended for formed hedges, and requires proper pruning for nice densification. Trimming Brabant tui should be done at least once a year in the spring(late March or April). Then, frozen and dead shoots are cut out, and the last year's increments are shortened by about 1/3 to half.The second pruning date for Brabant thuja is summerIn July, you can trim the tips of a few centimeters of growth so that the plants grow better and thicken. At a later date, no pruning should be made so that the growths have time to lignify before winter.
Thuja Brabant - browning needles
Finally, there is an important problem common toBrabant thuja hedges , which is browning of needles after winter. It is worth knowing that it is not caused by thuja fungal diseases, as is often mistakenly believed. It is a normal phenomenon for this variety of the western thuja, the so-called physiological browning, often referred to aswinter discoloration of the cuticlesAs a result, the cuticles turn brown or red on the upper side and remain green on the underside.In spring, plants regain their green color quite quickly.
Thephysiological browning of thuja 'Brabant'described here can be slightly reduced by proper plant care, mainly irrigation also in autumn and winter, and special fertilizers against browning needles. If this drawback of Thuja 'Brabant' bothers us a lot, it is worth planting other varieties on the hedge, in which the browning phenomenon does not occur. This feature is valued for, among others. a very popular thuja Szmaragd, which I mentioned in the higher one, in the fragment comparing these two varieties of the thuja.
